We have a spot of lunch at OB Café, Old Buckenham Country Park
It’s a café, a campsite, a country park, a cycling hub, and the venue for regular live music and wildlife walks and talks, plus an annual balloon festival.
With its particular welcome for cyclists we took a Sunday morning ride through sunny lanes from Norwich via Intwood, East Carleton, Silfield and Bunwell (and back via New Buckenham, Tacolneston, Fundenhall and Wreningham.)
It’s quiet countryside, but the decking beside the lake at OB’s café was packed with people enjoying coffee and cake, sausage rolls and wraps.
Check online for opening days and times, but when we rolled up there had been cooked breakfast baps served from 9am followed by hefty roasts-in-a-roll from 12-4pm.
The roast included a generous helping of meat, plus gravy and three beautifully roasted potatoes.
We sat out on the decking. There is a covered area too which would have been great for less glorious weather. At peak times they could do with more seating and tables, but we found a sunny spot looking out over the water and there was space to picnic on the grass.
Despite popularity, and arriving at 1pm on a sunny Sunday, we were served quickly by friendly and competent staff and our food was ready within minutes. My husband’s frothy coffee arrived patterned with a barista-ish heart, and there was Earl Grey tea for me.
The roast-in-a-roll was served in a box which even worked well for the gravy. We almost made a bit of a rookie error and ordered the extra roast potatoes in a pot, not realising that they came with the meal anyway – but I very much like the idea of being able to order a pot of roasties. Sticking to the already-included potatoes gave us the chance to discover that the cakes on display were as delicious as they looked.
The Victoria sponge was splendidly deep and light and oozing with jam and cream and the lemon meringue cake was a revelation – properly moist and lemony, and topped by wonderfully crisp meringue.
We could even justify all that delicious fuel to power our way back through the lovely lanes of south Norfolk.
oldbuckenhamcountrypark.com
Our review visits are unannounced and we pay for our meals
